Louise
Garrett

Profession

Associate Lecturer, BA Culture, Criticism and Curation

College

Central Saint Martins

Person Type

Teacher Researcher

Biography

I am an art historian, curator and critical writer on a wide range of research areas linked to theoretical, pedagogical, spatial, archival and curatorial contexts for contemporary art practice. I teach across BA and MA Culture, Curation and Criticism.

My PhD, titled ‘…of delay, hesitation and detour: Resisting the constitution of knowledge: Walter Benjamin, re-search and contemporary art,’ was awarded by University of the Arts London in 2016. The thesis analysed delay, hesitation and detour as unconventional ‘methods’ that seek to interrupt prescribed, or disciplinary, pathways of reading and interpreting works of art. The work comprised close readings of three works by Robert Morris, Bethan Huws, and The Otolith Group.

I have been an independent curator since around 2000 and have produced a diverse range of public art events, exhibitions, film screenings, talks and symposia with a variety of cultural organisations and galleries in London, Rome, Berlin, Singapore, New Zealand, Estonia and elsewhere. Much of my curatorial work has involved research-led, collaborative and interdisciplinary working approaches, including commissioning new work, community engagement projects, working in public space beyond the frame of traditional gallery settings, and alternative approaches to questions of space and politics.

My current research investigates the currency of ‘hospitality’ as a term to examine how public space is regulated by its authorities and ‘practised’ by its users. The project aims to critically scope concepts of hospitality (‘hosts’ and ‘guests’ in relation to spatial politics) in contemporary art and culture, and to make present and disseminate these ideas through talks, symposia and publications. This research is also conceived as a curatorial project that aims to work with and commission artists and collectives who work across architecture, design, activism, and community engagement.